KYTC Fails to Study 8664

A $60,000 PR hit job by KYTC

Today we received a copy of what is supposed to be a study of the 8664 alternative by KYTC's consultant. If they had wanted to make a good faith attempt of assessing our plan, they would have contacted us to clarify the specifics of our alternative and/or accepted our offer to provide a transportation engineer to oversee the study.

Instead they misrepresented our alternative by asserting:

I-64 will be widened to six lanes through Cherokee Park(second to last bullet point on page 2)

I-71 would also be widened to six lanes

I-64 and I-71 terminate at Clay Street

Waterfront Boulevard would divide the Great Lawn

we don't address Kennedy Bridge rehabilitation

All of the above are incorrect, and therefore KYTC's analysis is NOT a 8664 Study. In fact, if you wanted the 8664 alternative to fail, you would do exactly what they have attempted to do -- force more interstate and limited access traffic into Spaghetti Junction and change where the I-64 ramp enters downtown.

Courier-Journal Coverage?

So how will the Courier-Journal choose to cover this story? Will they point out that the study doesn't assess the 8664 alternative?

Back in August when we filed an open records request and discovered that KYTC was studying our alternative, the CJ reported that the consultant said they were studying a two bridge alternative. Here's the quote:

"8664 had claimed that the state had been studying its proposal. However, an official with engineering consultant Wilbur Smith Associates of Lexington said the analysis focused on two bridges, a redesigned Spaghetti Junction and turning Interstate 64 into a surface-level parkway downtown."

Fast forward four months, now apparently they didn't study a "two bridge solution" after all. Why didn't the consultant know what they we're studying after it was 93% complete?

Also, will the C-J cover the fact that KYTC is assuming that the Cochran Tunnel will be removed to widen I-64?

KYTC's Intent

You might recall Secretary Prather cancelled the "8664" Study in March of this year when it was 93% or one week from completion. This was according to the results of our Open Records

request. The stated reason for cancelling the study was it was during "a delicate time" in the General Assembly as lawmaker's debated legislation on ways to pay for the project. Think TOLLS.

If you came to our 2nd Annual Forum last week you heard us predict that the study might just appear before the 2009 Session in an effort to discredit our alternative and generate support for tolling authority legislation. Well, that appears to be what's going on here.

Why would KYTC wait close to four months to deliver an inaccurate assessment of 8664? According to their own records, the study was just one week from completion. So why now?

"Oh, that Cochran Tunnel thing"

They are planning on destroying a portion of the 100+ year old Olmsted-designed Cherokee Park to make way for more trucks to barrel through downtown Louisville. Say what? Does the Mayor for Life approve of this plan? He's on the KIPDA board, so he must have known about it. I can think of a couple Metro Council members and neighborhood associations that are going to find this little factoid a little troubling.

Mighty interesting reading...
I'm picking this up at cartky.org. Do you have a link to the cited C-J article?

I was at the JeffCo KY Delegation Meeting the other night, and Reagan had dropped all pretense on the "public-private partnership" doublespeak, and was using the "toll" word openly. I found that refreshing.

Not surprising. The booze cartel always
gets what it wants. The whole city
Is drunk on it's influence. Waiting around
for a group Fortune magazine ranked as 6 out
9th worst management, who have done
A lackluster job of running anything except
Jack Daniels is pathetic. If Louisville wants
To be a vibrant place it needs to be a civic place
Where the people, not just a few mediocre
multimillionaires and their sycophants, make
Decisions. Are the politicians and editorial
Boards just waiting for them To hand over a
check again? This sounds like a culture of
Dependency. Maybe there really is no such
Thing as drinking responsibly, even when it's
Kool-Aid.

Go to the Secretary of State web site, get the address of a certain re-elected congressman, look it up on the internet. You'll get the message loud and clear as to why the insistence on building another bridge downtown instead of going ahead with the EEB.

It is true that KIPDA does plan for an additional lane of travel from I-71 to I-264(KIPDA ID # 389)in their Horizon 2030. Accordingly, the designation of the Cochran Hill Tunnel as a Nationally and Exceptionally Significant Features of the Federal Interstate Highway System in addition to its location under the National Register site of Cherokee Park presents a barrier to expansion that is not easily overcome. However, there is still a threat to the tunnel and a successful 8664 would aide greatly in solidifying the tunnels continued preservation.

I feel it is time for a new Mayor. We also need change in Louisville,Ky. All will change is downtown and his pet pees. He has got fat and lazy. Also drive his own car. That could save money. LMPD cars cut to work cars as it sould be. I do not have tack home car. It's time for a new Mayor. Thank You Omer C Sublett.

How would this impact I-265 in Indiana? The interchange at I-64 in Floyd County would need to be widened along with I-265 itself. Also wouldn't the interchange at I-64 and the Gene Snyder need to be redesigned.

With the economy tanking, the oil running out, the cars fading away, there is no need for more bridges anywhere. If there is any transportation money, please spend it on public use, like light rail or more trains etc.